How to season fish.

Seafood is a healthy and flavorful cornerstone to any meal. With so many fish in the sea, there’s a near endless
selection of flavor profiles and textures.

Let’s discuss a few ways to season your favorite fish.

Basic Seafood Marinade

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets of your favorite fish
• Juice 3 lemons
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tb Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup fresh snipped dill
• 1/4 tea spoon salt
• Fresh ground pepper ( to taste)
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients well.
2. Marinate fish 2 hours in refrigerator.
3. Cook as desired.

Fresh Herb Marinade

Ingredients:

• 2-4 filets of your favorite fish
• 1/4 cup of fresh chopped herbs
• 1 lemon or lime
• Salt and fresh ground pepper (to taste)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, broken record, broken… Always try to use the freshest ingredients you can. In this case, a home herb garden would be epic. The flavors of home grown herbs are more intense since they take a trip from the garden direct to the kitchen vs. the trip from the farm to the truck to the store to the kitchen.

Preparation:

1. Simply chop your herb of choice.
2. Chop 2 cloves of garlic.
3. Juice one lemon or lime.
4. Mix all of these ingredients together.
5. Place your fish in a Pyrex dish
6. Salt and pepper each fillet to taste
7. Pour a tablespoon or more marinade on each fish to coat evenly.
8. Let marinate for 20-30 minutes.
9. Cook as desired.
10. While the fish is resting, pour a tablespoon of the reserved marinade onto each fillet. This will add moisture and enhance the fish appearance.

Note: Never reuse marinade that has been used on any raw meat. Marinades must be discarded after they are used.

Lemon Ginger Marinade

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets of your favorite fish
• 1 ginger root
• 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• Salt and fresh ground pepper (to taste)

Preparation:

1. Salt and pepper both sides of a fish fillet to your taste.
2. Peel and thinly slice ginger root and cover both sides of the fish with it.
3. Thinly slice a lemon and cover both sides just like the ginger.
4. Place the fillets in a rectangular Pyrex dish and drizzle with olive oil.
5. Let the fish marinate for 15 minutes while the grill is getting hot.
6. With your spatula scoop the fish out of the dish lemons, ginger and all and place it on a hot, well-oiled grill.
7. Cook for 5-7 minutes per side with the lid of the grill closed.
8. Be sure to keep the lemons and ginger on the fish as it rests. The juices from the fish, lemon and ginger will make a delicious sauce.
9. The lemons and ginger will not look appetizing. Remove them before serving. They’ve done their job.

Dry rubs

Dry rubs are great for grilling fish. A rub puts a protective coating on the fish, deterring sticking and adding concentrated flavor.

Most spice rubs have a long list of ingredients in them. I won’t bore you with that. Instead I am going to direct you to the spice masters:

Chef Paul Prudhomme. He has a line of Magic Seasoning Blends. These rubs are time tested and widely used by professional chefs across America.

Chef Emeril’s line of Essence Spices are also well received.

Now here’s the secret. When serving a fish that has a dry rub, make sure to have a cooling condiment to serve with the fish since dry rubs are often spicy and intense. Think along the lines of fruit, cucumber, tomato salsa or a greek-style yogurt or sour cream sauce. Anything cooling will play nicely with the spiciness.

Best,

Chef

Choosing the best and freshest seafood.

I already covered how to pick the best produce and beef. Now let’s talk seafood.

Good news: High quality, fresh seafood is more readily available than ever. Bad news: Picking seafood can be intimidating. You want to make sure you’re buying the freshest seafood you can. Here to help.

Funny thing about the word “fresh” – it has a different meaning when it comes to seafood. I’m going to pull back the curtain and tell you exactly what to consider when selecting “fresh” seafood.

1.     To buy fresh, buy frozen.

It may be counter intuitive, but if you want the freshest fish available, buy fish that has been flash-frozen. Today, fish can be flash-frozen shortly after being caught. This lessens spoilage, keeps things fresher and makes the fish safer to eat. Unless you live in a harbor town, the flash-frozen fish will be the most fresh. More insight found here.

2.     If something smells fishy, it is.

Fresh seafood should not have a strong fish smell.  If it smells like the docks, throw it back.

3.     Coming out of our shells.

Fresh shellfish like crab or lobster should be bought alive for optimum freshness. If the shells of the fish are open they are no longer living.

4.     Some like it raw.

Sashimi must be frozen for at least 7 days to be certified to eat raw. Brings us full-circle to point #1.

Now go out and use your newfound seafood selection skills and go score some Steelhead Trout (or Salmon) to test the Asian Infused Steelhead Trout recipe I tossed out several weeks back.

Soon, I’ll follow up on this “fresh ingredient” series with unique preparation tips and even more recipes from the MCL Restaurant & Bakery test kitchen.

Good times to follow.

Best,

Chef

As a Chef, I am always in pursuit of the best and freshest new ingredients. A few months ago I was able to sample a delightful new fish. I’m playfully calling it “the new and improved salmon.” It’s Steelhead Trout, a variety of Rainbow Trout. It is so much like salmon in color, taste, and texture that in a blind taste test, even I wouldn’t be able to differentiate between the two.

Have a look.

The similarities go even deeper.

• Both fish behave identically in the wild – swimming up rivers to spawn. Once developed, they return to the open ocean.

• Both fish eat the same diet, including large amounts of krill. This krill diet is what gives both fish the distinctive pink color we’re all accustomed to.

You like salmon. You’re sure of this. So why would we consider adding Steelhead Trout to our menu?  Let’s explore:

• Salmon supplies getting low. Cost getting high.

World salmon supplies through 2010 are going to be extremely tight due to crop shortages in Chile (where most farmed salmon sold in the U.S.      comes from).  This means you’re likely to see the price of salmon increase rapidly in supermarkets and restaurants. Steelhead Trout should save you some dough.

• Pink is the new Green.

Rainbow Trout varieties, which includes Steelhead Trout, are on the “Best Choices” list of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s  Seafood Watch List which monitors world fish populations for over-fishing.

• Could be the best salmon you’ve ever had.

After eating Steelhead Trout, I’ve had customers tell me, “that’s the best salmon I’ve ever had”, obviously missing the sign labeling it as Steelhead Trout.

Less expensive, sustainable, and tastier – all great reasons to become a fan of Steelhead Trout.

Now let’s discuss how to prepare Steelhead Trout. Finding recipes written specifically for Steelhead Trout can be challenging. I’ll let you in on a secret: A Google search for “Salmon recipes” returns 59,100,000 results. All of which are acceptable for preparing Steelhead Trout. While I’m sharing secrets, I’m going to get you started with my favorite Steelhead Trout recipe from the MCL Restaurant & Bakery test kitchen. Shhh. Don’t tell.

Click here for the recipe.

Best,

Chef

Asian Infused Steelhead Trout (modified for the home kitchen. Serves 4)

Ingredient list:

Steelhead Trout:
Four 4 ounce pieces of Steelhead Trout (can substitute Salmon as well)

For Vegetable mixture:
1 cup of shredded cabbage
1 carrot peeled and shredded
1 stalk of celery, sliced on a bias very thinly
½ cup broccoli florets
¼ cup water chestnuts, drained
Pinch of kosher salt

For the sauce:
Pan coating spray
1 clove of garlic, chopped
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¾ cup soy sauce, low sodium
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon corn starch
¼ cup sesame oil

Step by step:

1. Spray skillet with pan coating spray. Heat over medium high heat.

2. When pan is hot add chopped garlic. Cook just until it gives off a sweet roasted smell. Tasty.

3. Add ginger and red pepper flakes. Toast for a few seconds.

4. Add soy sauce, black pepper and kosher salt. Reduce heat to medium.

5. Mix corn starch with the water and the sesame oil. Stir into the hot soy sauce mixture.

6. Continue to heat and stir the sauce until it has reached a slow boil.

7. Remove half of the sauce and save extra sauce to offer guests. Guests will like it.

8. Place trout in pan with remaining sauce. Turn to evenly coat the fish with sauce.

9. Cover skillet with a lid. Reduce heat to low. Continue to cook for 10 minutes.

10. While Trout is cooking toss vegetable mixture with kosher salt. Place in a steamer. Steam for 5 minutes.

11. Place vegetables on a serving tray. Lay the finished trout on top of them. Coat the fish with remaining sauce.

12. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and serve.

13. Sit back and receive praise.

If you have specific questions email me.

Best,

Chef